Spay and Neuter References

Over the years the once sacred dogma of routine pre-adult mass spay and neuter for companion animals has come under increased scrutiny from multiple sources. As so often happens in animal-related issues, this has generated a lot of passion. And as also often occurs, those who represent the extremes make the most noise in their attempts to gain disciples for their respective views. Neither the passion nor the extremism does anything to help the average pet owner or animal care professional who wants to become more informed about the issue.

Below is a collection of resources I’ve put together over the years that explore some of the many aspects of gonad removal, its benefits and costs. The bottom line is that there is no universal right answer. Blanket spay and neuter policies that work for shelters may not work for individuals for whom the health and welfare of their individual animals is the primary concern. Where problems arise is when one organization or individual makes choices that benefit them and expect others to assume the responsibility for any costs associated with that choice.

Rollin, Bernard E. and Rollin, Michael D.H. (2001). Dogmatism and Catechisms—Ethics and Companion Animals, Anthozoos, Vol XIV, 1:4-11. Explores the ethics of what the authors refer to as “gonad harvesting” in dogs and cats.

Historic background information:

Kuefler, Matthew. (2001) The Manly Eunuch: Masculinity, Gender Ambiguity, and Christian Ideology in Late Antiquity. Chicago:Chicago Series on Sexuality, History, and Society. 245-282.

Milani, Myrna M. (2003) Saving Ryan’s Privates: An overview of the pertinent bond, physiological and behavioral factors that contribute to companion animal gonadectomy. Unpublished. This article was written following a presentation by the same name at the 2003 conference of the International Society of Anthrozoology, “The Social Lives of Animals: Human/Non-human Cognition, Interactions, Relationships” Contact mm@mmilani.com for pdf file.

Taylor, Gary. (2000) Castration: An Abbreviated History of Western Manhood. London: Routledge.

Chu, Karyn et al. Population characteristics and neuter status of cats living in households in the United States. (2009) Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association. 234, No. 8, Pages 1023-1030 doi: 10.2460/javma.234.8.1023.

Howe LM, Slater MR, Boothe HW, Hobson HP, Holcom JL, Spann AC. (2001) Long-term outcome of gonadectomy performed at an early age or traditional age in dogs. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association. 218(2):217-21.

Neilson JC et al. (1997) Effects of castration on problem behaviors in male dogs with reference to age and duration of behavior. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association; 211 (2):180-183.

Shoemaker Nico J. et al. Correlation between age at neutering and age at onset of hyperadrenocorticism in ferrets. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association.Jan 2000, Vol. 216, No. 2, Pages 195-197.

Wright,John C. PhD and Richard T. Amoss, (2004) Prevalence of house soiling and aggression in kittens during the first year after adoption from a humane society. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association. Vol. 224, No. 11, Pages 1790-1795 doi: 10.2460/javma.2004.224.1790

Additional Online Sources

Bonnie L. Deroo and Kenneth S. Korach. Estrogen receptors and human disease, Journal of Clinical Investigation 2006; 116(3):561–570. doi:10.1172/JCI27987. I included this article because I could find no studies that located and identified the estrogen receptors in normal dogs and cats. As is typical of so much of medical literature, the overwhelming bulk of it is problem-oriented and presumably based on the assumption that everyone knows where all these receptors are and their function in normal healthy individuals. Were that the case, there wouldn’t be so many questions about spay and neuter now. While this article does get into the usual problem-oriented approach, it opens with a discussion of the location of estrogen receptors in humans and animals before doing so.

The Parsemus Foundation contains a mother lode of information about ovarian-sparing surgery, a list of veterinarians performing the surgery, as well as links to additional references related to normal ovarian function and other aspects of this complex subject.